


Battling Fate

by new_mexicunt



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:08:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29966874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/new_mexicunt/pseuds/new_mexicunt
Summary: What if AU Alec and Magnus were getting married the same day that Alec and Lydia were to be wed?  What if Alec and AU Alec switched places the night before the wedding?  Just for a bit?  AU Alec shows Magnus what it's like to be loved by him and Alec gets to see what life would be like if he were to choose Magnus over Lydia."This dimension’s Alec was loyal to Izzy and Jace to a fault. This dimension’s Alec chose to dive head-first into a job that would never value him as anything more than a footsoldier. This dimension’s Alec chose family and honor and the Clave.But, somewhere...Magnus thought, wistfully,Somewhere, there’s a world where Alec choseme."
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 30
Kudos: 56





	1. Freaky Friday

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna write this instead of my thesis <3
> 
> I'm on twitter: @solid_quirks  
> I tweet my updates!

“Alec,” Izzy approached him from the side doors of the OPS center, “do you know where we keep the wedding banners stored?” She stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the main screen. The screen projected a large map of Manhattan; it was covered in little, red dots, indicating where the demon activity was most prominent. At the moment, it was unusually quiet. Alec couldn’t help the queasy, sick feeling that this was just the calm before the storm. 

But, right now, the only storm in his life was his small, stubborn sister. 

“I don’t know, have you tried the basement?” He huffed out, trying to side-step her so that he could pretend he had work to get back to. He didn’t. There were more than enough people out on patrol to handle the minor incidents. 

“Have _you_ tried the basement?” She asked, mocking him with her own version of Alec’s “acting-head-of-the-Institute” voice. 

“Iz…” 

“No,” she countered, “I’ve been spending the last week and a half helping Lydia plan this sham of a wedding. The least you can do is go muster up some decorations. I have to go meet with the catering service.” She finished, turning before he could rebuke and leaving no room for argument. 

Alec sighed, setting up the automatic alert system in case the demon activity reached a certain threshold, and then left for the basement. 

Izzy was right. She had been running around the Institute since the end of the trial trying to get everything ready for when the Clave members arrived. She had set up guest rooms, hired a catering service, met with a florist, and gotten everyone in Alec’s immediate family fitted for their wedding attire. If Alec didn’t know any better, he could almost believe she was excited for the big day tomorrow. 

_Tomorrow._

Alec suppressed a shudder. 

He made his way down to the basement and began sifting through the shelves. He knew the banners were _somewhere_. They were hung at every shadowhunter wedding. Runes of love, devotion, and trust were inscribed on the long, red tapestries, symbolizing the bond being formed during the ceremony. 

Alec snorted. _Love._

As he neared the back of the basement, he was beginning to lose faith in his own recollections. Just as he was beginning to gear himself up for a trip to the attic, he stumbled across a dusty box full of red material. Alec scooped it off the shelf and brought the material out to beat out the dust. As he rolled it out onto the basement floor, something small and purple flashed before flying across to the other end of the room. Alec left the tapestry and walked over to pick up what he now recognized as the portal shard that Clary had been wearing a few days earlier.

“What the…” But before the thought could be taken any further, Alec felt a weird tugging sensation at the bottom of his stomach. He lurched forward, the shard dragging him across the room towards the (now glowing) basement wall. Alec had no time to think as the shard positioned itself in a crack within the wall and the warm, purple glow turned into a bright, swirling light. Alec spared a final thought for the tapestries, hoping Izzy would find them lying out on the floor before they got too damaged, and then allowed himself to be sucked into the portal. 

***

Alec came-to lying face-down on a cool, damp floor. As he reached around to push himself up into a kneeling position, he let out a high-pitched yelp. This allerted the shadowhunters nearest the basement to Alec’s location. Lucky for him, it happened to be Lydia, Clary, and Hodge. They found Alec staring wide-eyed at his forearms, moving them this way and that so as to let the dim basement lights catch onto his runes. He looked… appalled. 

“Alec?” Clary asked, taking a tentative step forward. Alec looked up, relief flooding his expression. 

“Clary!” He shot up, running over to engulf her in a tight… hug? 

“Clary, oh my God! What is… what’s going on? Where…” He trailed off. Clary caught him looking down at her collarbone where a freshly drawn iratze lay across her chest. He looked horrified. 

“Clary, when did you get that tattoo?” He asked, searching her eyes frantically for some sort-of clarity that Clary suspected he wasn’t finding. “When did-” He glanced back down at his own hands, “When did _I_ get tattoos?” He gulped, and then did the most non-Alec thing Clary had ever seen him do:

He took a step back, patting down the front of his pants before twirling around to tap at his back pockets. He ended the little parade by looking back over his shoulder at her. 

“Where’s my phone?” He asked, before adding (almost as an afterthought): “And what in _God’s_ name am I _wearing_?” He turned back towards them, but was lifting the hem of his shirt to check the little tag sewn into the seams. “Oh God.” he moaned, looking up to meet Clary’s eyes once more. “Who put me in a bulk Hanes T-shirt? I can’t meet with the wedding planner dressed like this!” 

“Wedding planner…” Lydia began, giving Alec an exasperated look, “You mean Izzy?”

Alec scrunched his nose up in disgust. 

“What? No.” He shook his head, letting out a quick, dry chuckle. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my sister, but she’s not what I would call… the epitome of fashion.” And then he winked, _winked_ , at Lydia, before turning back towards Clary. “Is this some sort of sick bachelor party?” he asked. Humor seeped into his voice, which took a bit of the edge off his panic. “While I appreciate the effort, this seems pretty elaborate. Did Jace set you up to this?” He narrowed his eyes. “Did you guys drug me?”

“Uhh…” Clary began, but she was cut off by Hodge, who had been watching the scenario unfold in silence. Until now. 

“Alec, what’s the last thing you remember?”

Alec eyed him wearily. He crossed his arms while shifting his weight to allow for one leg to stand straight while the other slid out to begin nervously tapping against the basement floor. He let out a huff before flipping his hair out of his face. 

_Well,_ thought Clary, _that was almost an Alec move…_

“I was just making breakfast. I’m supposed to meet with the planner today to wrap up some last minute details about the wedding, but I figured I could sneak in a homemade breakfast.” He smiled, glancing over at Clary like she was in on some sort-of joke. “You know how grumpy Magnus gets before breakfast. After the last few weeks, I figured he deserved a little…” He stopped, eyes suddenly widening again and he whipped around frantically. Looking for something. Looking for-

“Where _is_ Magnus?” He asked, making a complete turn before coming back around to face the increasingly confused shadowhunters. “He was _just_ here! Where is my-”

“Okay.” Hodge cut him off, reaching out to grab Alec by the arm, but the man yanked it back, cradling it with his other hand and glaring at Hodge. Hodge sighed. 

“Alec, I understand you’re confused, but I think I may know what’s going on. Could you just come with me to the command center so we can try to get this sorted out?”

“No.” Alec said stubbornly, looking to Clary again for validation. “No I… where’s Magnus? Is he okay?”

“Magnus is fine.” Lydia reassured him. “He’s fine, we’ll call him as soon as we get upstairs, okay? Let’s just,” she gulped, looking to Hodge for confirmation, before turning back to Alec, “just come with us. We’ll get this sorted out.” She reached her hand out, but Alec just gave her a long, judgmental once-over before striding past them towards the stairs. 

“Whatever.” He called over his shoulder. “I don’t care what you do, but someone _please_ just get ahold of my fiancé.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter:
> 
> AU Alec meets Magnus  
> AU Alec loves Magnus' clothes  
> AU Alec still hates his own clothes


	2. The Way We Were

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Your girl is lovely, Hubbell.”
> 
> \- Barbra Streisand  
>  _"The Way We Were"_ (1973)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Maryliz2121 for being a wonderful beta reader. She skweees. She edits. She talks through plot holes with me. She's the works <3
> 
> Also, Barry Manilow is, like, the Justin Bieber of the 70s. It was "in" to hate him (but all the girls secretly loved him). You need this useless information for the story.

Hodged marched them up to the conference room, sending Lydia off to contact Magnus via fire message. She tried to relay the urgency of the situation, sending a quick prayer to the angels that he would try to look past his resentment towards her and her fiance. She may or may not have snuck in promises of a sizable payment… just in case. 

In the meantime, Hodge and Clary were trying to get Alec to calm down. Every time they managed to get him to stop nervously tapping his feet, or decelerate his breathing, he’d spot another tattoo on himself and start up another mini panic attack. He wouldn’t let Hodge near him, but Clary was permitted a close-enough proximity that she could rub soothing little circles on his upper back. She was honestly shocked that she, of all people, was the one he seemed to cling to. She was much more familiar with an Alec that semi-hated her guts.

“Can we get you anything to drink?” She asked in, what she hoped to be, a calming tone. “I could get you some tea… coffee…?”

He nodded, staring intently at a spot on the conference table while he tried to take deep, steady breaths. 

“Yah.” He breathed out, looking up to offer her a tight smile. “Yah, umm, could I get an espresso?” 

Hodge gave him a confused look. 

“We have instant coffee, if that’s what you’re referring to.” 

Alec scrunched his nose up in disgust and shook his head in response. 

“No. No, that’s, ew, that’s okay. How ‘bout some water? I could go for some water.” He was nervously fidgeting again, tracing the clairvoyance rune on his hand over-and-over. 

“Right.” Hodge stood to leave, but before he made it out the door, he turned back to Alec. 

“Tap okay?”

Alec groaned, pulling his arms up onto the table and burying his face in the little nest he made with them. 

“Nevermind.” He mumbled into his arms. 

Hodge just smirked, moving back to his seat at the edge of the conference table. 

“Good to know you're just as jaded in all dimensions.”

Alec’s head popped back up at that. 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” Hodge waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “It’s nothing. I’ll explain everything you need to know as soon as Lydia gets back with-”

Hodge was cut off as the door slammed open. 

“-Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn. I am an eight-hundred year old warlock with an armload of clients to attend to today. I am not here to abide your every beck-and-call.” Magnus’ torso was turned away from them as he finished speaking to Lydia. He waltzed in ahead of her, having used his magic to open the door for them so that he could continue staring down the woman who’d stolen his heart. He may have “accidentally” pushed a bit too hard, causing the door to nearly fly off the hinge. It was meant to be intimidating, but Lydia kept her face perfectly impassive. 

“We understand, Warlock Bane. We wouldn’t have offered you such an ungodly sum if it wasn’t an emergenc-”

“Magnus!” Alec shot up from his seat, hurrying around the table to interrupt their bickering. “Magnus, oh thank God, sweetheart…” He trailed off when he finally made it into the warlock’s personal space. 

His next move blew every other “non-Alec” thing that had made it onto Clary’s list out of the water. He grabbed Magnus by the waist and proceeded to kiss the ever-living daylights out of him. 

Magnus’ eyes shot open in shock, his arms flailing around a bit before he finally settled on laying his hands against Alec’s chest. Once he figured out that Alec didn’t plan on letting up anytime soon, he closed his eyes and instinctually leaned into the kiss. Alec let out a soft hum against his lips, before parting his own to deepen the kiss. Just as Magnus was beginning to believe that he was living out some sort-of alcohol-induced fever dream, someone cleared their throat. This brought Magnus back to his senses enough to push the young nephilim a few inches back. 

“Magnus?” Alec began, frantically searching his eyes before trailing them down the rest of his body as he spoke. “What’s- I mean, are you… are you… are…” His gaze landed on Magnus’ feet. “Are you wearing Manola Blahniks?!” His eyes shot back up to Magnus’, surprise and… something else that Magnus couldn't quite put his finger on written across his expression. 

“I um,” Magnus coughed to clear the roughness of his voice, “yes?”

Alec smiled. A wide, genuine, open smile that Magnus had only seen on the man a handful of times. And that look… Magnus recognized it now. The absolute, unwavering _affection_ adorning Alec’s face and pouring from his gaze; it made Magnus’ knees weak. He almost forgot where he was. 

Almost. 

“Warlock Bane,” Lydia began cooly, popping the warm bubble of affection that seemed to have formed around Magnus and Alec in the last few seconds, “We’ve called you here because we think there may be something wrong with Alec.”

Magnus couldn’t tear his eyes away from that smile. He didn’t bother to turn to her as he replied.

“He seems perfectly fine to me.” He huffed out, a little too high-pitched to sound casual. “What’s there to fix?”

“Well for one,” Izzy cut in, having been standing at the doorway since the beginning of the kiss, “he knew what kind of shoes you were wearing.” Izzy had been debriefed by Lydia between the time the fire message had been sent out and the moment Magnus portalled in. She’d quickly wrapped up her meeting with the catering rep before practically sprinting to the conference room. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected to find there, but it definitely… wasn’t this. 

Alec scoffed. 

“Of course I know what shoes he’s wearing, I’m an event planner. New York Fashion Week is, like, a quarter of my paycheck.” He winked at Magnus. “It’s bad business not to know your clients.” He let his eyes rake over Magnus again, letting the hunger in his gaze seep out so openly it was borderline uncomfortable. “Although,” he drawled, pulling a dazed Magnus in by his belt buckle, “I can’t say I’ve ever seen _you_ in anything more elegant than a Polo Ralph Lauren sweater. You’ve really gone all-out, my dear.” He met Magnus’ eyes again, not bothering to hide the lust in his own eyes. “Is this some sort of role play?” He brought his hand up to cup Magnus’ cheek. Magnus couldn’t help leaning into it a bit. He may be confused, but he was also still very-much in love. He’d take what he could get. “You know, you’re typically supposed to tell the other person what they’re supposed to be in this scenario. It’s more fun that way.” 

“Oh?” Magnus had no clue what was going on. 

Alec leaned in to speak right against his ear.

“Mmm, darling, if you wanted to dress me up as some leather-clad tattoo fenatic, you didn’t have to knock me out.” 

The snapped Magnus out of it. He finally shoved Alec off, giving himself enough space so that he could begin collecting his thoughts. 

“What is-” he gulped, pressing a hand to his chest as though that would calm his rapidly-beating heart, “What is going _on_?” His eyes finally snapped over to Lydia, but before she could respond, Alec spoke up again. 

“This _is_ just a really elaborate bachelor party right?” He was giving Magnus a confused, weary look. “I mean, that’s why you're dressed like,” he waved a hand in Magnus’ general direction, “ _that_ , right?” He hastened to correct himself when he saw Magnus’ eyes flash with hurt. “Not that I don’t like it! It’s just, you know... different. Good different! A really, _really_ good different.” He moaned, hiding his blushing face in his hands. “Oh God, please don’t leave me at the altar tomorrow.” 

Before Magnus could think of a response to that, Hodge broke into the conversation. 

“I think this would be a great time to explain exactly what’s going on here.” He turned to Magnus, pity softening his features. “Warlock Bane, this _is_ Alec Lightwood, but an Alec Lightwood from an alternate dimension. We’re not exactly sure how he got here, but we think it may have something to do with the basement. We found him dazed and confused and,” he swallowed, looking over at Alec, “asking for you.” 

Nobody spoke after that. The silent atmosphere was thick and tense; Magnus felt like he might choke on it. 

It was Izzy who spoke up first. 

“It’s my fault.” Izzy began, giving her brother a forlorn look. “I sent him down to get the wedding banners. I was tired of getting all the stuff together for the wedding on my own and I just wanted his help on… Angel, I don’t know, literally anything.” 

“Aww,” Alec cooed, shocking everyone in the room, “baby, look at that, even in alternate dimensions we’re still getting married. Isn’t that romantic?” Alec was giving him that _look_ again and Magnus had to avert his gaze. Alec laughed. “That is, if we’re all still pretending this isn’t a dream.” 

It was too much. 

“It’s not a dream.” Lydia answered him curtly, “and you’re not marrying him. You’re marrying me.” She didn’t know who this sappy, romantic, _gay_ alternate Alec was, but he had stepped on one-to-many of her toes. She was openly glaring at him. 

He gulped, looking like a deer caught in headlights. 

“You’re right,” he deadpanned, “if that’s the case, this isn’t a dream. This is a _nightmare_.” He began frantically pinching himself, looking around the room as he backed himself into the wall. “Okay,” pinch, “party’s over.” Pinch. Pinch. “Time to wake up now.” 

Magnus reached out to grab his hand. 

“Alexander,” his voice trembled a bit as he spoke, “darling, it’s okay…”

“Nope!” Alec wrenched his arm from Magnus’ grasp. “Nope! This is not okay. This is the opposite of okay.” He was giving Magnus an uncomfortable, horror-stricken look. 

_Well,_ Magnus thought bitterly, _that’s definitely more familiar._

“Listen, fancy-wizard-man, I don’t know what’s going on here, or what this Alec’s plan is tomorrow, but I have a perfectly good life waiting for me. A life with a little boy who needs me and a man who loves me… and a cat who maybe loves me. A life with a man who wears kitschy sweaters and eats too many shortbread cookies and plays way too many Barry Manilow records. A man who I adore and love and am planning on marrying tomorrow and I-” he paused, giving the room another once-over, “I need to get back to _that_ man.” He stopped when his eyes landed back on Magnus. “Please.” 

Magnus’ heart stuttered when Alec turned back towards him. The resolution and ferocity and absolute, unwavering _love_ in the man’s eyes was so inanely Alec that it made Magnus’ head spin. Magnus was beginning to realize that this Alec wasn’t some sort-of alternate version of the man he loved. This was an Alec that lived in a world where he could channel all of his strength and passion into the things he _chose_ to care about. Things that were mundane. Things that he couldn’t allow himself to fall into here in their world. 

Things like Magnus. 

Magnus often wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of such deep, relentless loyalty. He saw how Alec bent over backwards for his siblings; how he was willing to give up everything for the people he loved. It left Magnus in a state of both pain and wonder at how quickly the man had given up his chance at happiness so that his sister might be allowed to seek out her own love story. 

Magnus was also well-aware of the significance of the bow as Alec’s weapon of choice. He knew it was a long-range weapon, meaning Alec had trained himself to act as a buffer between his siblings and oncoming demons. Izzy and Jace approach missions with the intent to kill. Alec, however, was forced into a protective mindset. The bow gave him the ability to cover his siblings blind spots and keep them safe throughout the course of each of their missions. And, while Magnus knew this was of no fault to either Izzy or Jace, it did not negate the fact that Alec was left uncovered. Magnus knew that if anyone were to take the fall during any one of these demon hunts, it would be Alec. 

Just as he would be taking the fall for them tomorrow evening, under the watchful eye of the stained glass portrait of the angel Raziel and every important bureaucrat of the Clave. 

However, all of these traits belonged to _this_ dimension’s Alec. This dimension’s Alec was loyal to Izzy and Jace to a fault. This dimension’s Alec chose to dive head-first into a job that would never value him as anything more than a footsoldier. This dimension’s Alec chose family and honor and the Clave. 

_But, somewhere..._ Magnus thought, wistfully, _Somewhere, there’s a world where Alec chose_ me.

Before anyone had a chance to respond to Alec’s fevered speech, Maryse Lightwood made her way through the open door with a deep scowl planted on her face. 

“Why did a subordinate need to fill me in on this emergency meeting instead of the acting head of the Institute?” She directed her remark towards Lydia, before landing the full force of her glare on Magnus. “And what, pray tell, are you doing here, warlock?” 

Neither Lydia nor Magnus were given the chance to respond. Alec chose that moment to run over to his mother and practically throw himself into her arms. 

“Oh thank God, Mom!” He spoke into the side of a shell-shocked Maryse. He pulled back to look at her, rushing out sentences before she could get another word in. “Mom, please… please I need your help. I don’t really know what’s happening or how I ended up in this mess, but I’m so, _so_ , happy to see you.” He leaned back in for another tight hug and mumbled muffled complaints against her shoulder. 

“Mom, I don’t know what to do. Everyone keeps telling me I’m in a different dimension where, apparently, everyone dresses like they’re part of some weird S&M cult. And I’m getting married tomorrow and it’s _not_ to Magnus! And Max is-” His head shot up as he unlatched himself from Maryse and he did another one of his very-much-not-like-Alec twirls, scouring the room for-

“My son!” He looked back to Maryse, “Mom, tell me you have him. _Please_ tell me he’s with you. You said you’d watch him today, right? You told me you’d take him so that Magnus and I could go check up on the venue…” He finally paused, seeing no clear recognition in his mother’s eyes as he rambled on about his kid. His breathing began to speed up again and he spun around to give Magnus a bewildered, painful look.

“Magnus, our…” He choked out, searching Magnus’ eyes for recollections of the life they’d never built together. He swallowed thickly as he finished his question. “Where’s our little boy?” 

Magnus felt another piece of himself crumble under the heartbroken look in the young man’s eyes. He hated himself for what he had to say next. 

“Alexander, we don’t have a little boy.”

Clary watched alternate-Alec make a soft, pained sound before bringing his hand to his mouth to cut off the rest of the noise. He couldn’t tear his eyes from Magnus’ as he began speaking in rapid, breathless sentences. 

“We _do_.” He bemoaned. “We do. His name is Max and he’s three. He came to live with us last year and you… You said he’s the best thing to ever happen to us.” In the back of his mind, Alec knew he was grasping for straws, but he refused to believe that there was a world where their little boy wasn’t alive. “You said he was perfect, Magnus, and you’re right. You’re so right; he’s absolutely perfect. He doesn’t speak much, but he laughs and smiles and plays little games with us.” He grabbed one of Magnus’ hands with both of his in a tight, pleading grip. “And he-” Alec shook his head, blinking back tears as he spoke. “He hums little tunes with you at bedtime and he sleeps in between us because he refuses to stop crying if we leave him alone. And he… and he…” 

“Alec.” Maryse cut in, causing the young man to finally tear himself from Magnus’ pitying stare. “I don’t know _what_ has gotten into you, but-”

“It’s not him.” Lydia cut her off, earning herself another glare from her soon-to-be mother-in-law. “This Alec is from an alternate dimension. We’ve called Warlock Bane here to assess the situation and help us figure out how to send him back.” 

“Yah.” Alec nodded his head furiously in agreement. “Yah, get me home. I can’t… I didn’t…” He turned back to Magnus with tears in his eyes. “I never thought there could be a world where you weren’t mine.” 

And Magnus _knew_. He _knew_ better. It may be a happier, more open version of the man he loved residing in Alec’s body, but it was Alec’s eyes looking at him like he was the only thing in the world that mattered. It was Alec’s hands reaching out subconsciously to hold him. It felt like every cell in Alec’s body was begging to be touched by Magnus, and the warlock was beginning to feel dizzy with emotions. He couldn’t _think_ , couldn’t _breathe_ with Alec looking at him like that. Like everything they were made of was meant to be shared. Like he wanted him. 

Like he loved him. 

“Get out.” Magnus spoke cooly, looking down at the long, wooden table to avoid the confused looks that were bound to cross the nephilims’ faces at his remark. 

“Warlock Bane, I think we need to discuss this a little more in dept-”

“And we will.” Magnus brought his head back up to eye-level, purposefully avoiding Alec’s gaze to reply to Maryse’s demands. “We can discuss whatever you need to discuss and fix whatever you need me to fix, but get him,” he pointed a finger at Alec without looking at him, “out of here.” 

“Magnus…” Clary started, though not knowing where to go with her sentence. She could see, now, what was happening to the man. She just didn’t know how to articulate it, or whether or not she should even try. Magnus made the decision for her. 

“Don’t.” He spoke again, turning to Clary with a softened expression. “Don’t, it’s okay biscuit. But, please...” he sighed, closing his eyes to and reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Please, just get him out.”

Nobody spoke for a few seconds, the only sound in the room being Alec’s quick, panicked breaths. His eyes were locked on Magnus, but the warlock refused to open his eyes. 

Finally, Lydia walked over to grab one of Alec’s arms, but Alec jerked away, just as he’d done in the basement. 

“No.” He shook his head, giving her a distrustful glare. “No, let Izzy take me.” He looked over at his sister with a pleading look. She returned the look with a tight, forced smile before walking over to grab his hand and leading him out of the room. As they passed by Magnus, Alec stopped them, reaching out subconsciously to Magnus’ elbow. 

“Sweetheart…” 

“Don’t. Touch me.” Magnus spoke again, still refusing to open his eyes. Alec looked like he’d been slapped, but pulled his hand back to follow Izzy out of the room. 

Once he was sure they were out of earshot, Magnus finally opened his eyes and turned to Hodge, praying he looked more composed than he felt. 

“Now,” he spoke in a cool, detached voice, “would you please escort me to the basement so that we can get this all patched up?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> Alec meets AU Magnus  
> Alec meets AU Max  
> u cry more


End file.
